376 KLOOF AND KARROO, 



making hurriedly for the house. At that instant the 

 horrid din ceased suddenly, and was succeeded by a 

 deathly silence. Turning once more to the kraal 

 gate, Goodrick at once perceived that the whole of 

 the enactors of this awful drama had vanished. He 

 rubbed his eyes in vain to see if they deceived him, 

 but a nod from the half-dead Cupido convinced him 

 that this was not so. No, there was no doubt about 

 it, the waning moon cast her pure and silvery beams 

 calmly and peacefully upon a silent scene. Not a 

 trace of the bloody drama remained ; not a whisper, 

 save of the soft night breeze, told of the dreadful 

 story. 



" Baas," whispered the Hottentot, "they'll come 

 no more to-night." Quickly Goodrick raised his 

 fainting wife and carried her into the house, where, 

 after long and anxious tending, she was restored to 

 consciousness. Placing her in the sitting-room, 

 upon a couch that he had himself made from the 

 soft skins, " brayed " by the Kaffirs, of the antelopes 

 he had shot, he at length induced her to sleep, 

 promising not for a moment to leave her, and with 

 his hands clasped in hers. 



At length the night wore away, the sun of Africa 

 shot his glorious rays upward from behind the rugged 

 mountain walls of the kloof, and broad daylight 

 again spread over the landscape. Goodrick was 

 glad indeed to find that with the bright sunshine his 

 wife, brave-hearted woman that she was, had shaken 

 off much of the night's terrors ; yet were her nerves 

 much shaken. For the last time the goats were 

 unkraaled, and sent out, with the two somewhat 

 unwilling Hottentots, to pasture. Breakfast and 

 some strong coffee that followed this operation 



